Rights Organizations: UN Must Monitor Turkey Closely

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NGOs have discussed human rights violations occurring in Turkey, in the September human rights session of United Nations (UN) 33rd Human Rights Council, organized in Switzerland’s Geneva province..

In the 5th session, held yesterday (September 19), the NGOs called for Turkey to respect basic human rights and urged the UN to closely follow the incidents in Turkey.

According to information on PEN International’s website and a report by Serkan Demirel from the Dicle News Agency, PEN International, Article 19, La Federation Internatianale des Ligues des Droits de l’Homme (International Federation for Human Rights / FIDH) and Human Rights Watch (HRW) stressed the issues of human right violations and freedom of expression.

“Violations have increased during the State of Emergency”

The increase in human rights violations was stressed in a joint presentation by Article 19 and PEN International.

Freedom of expression organizations drew attention to attacks on press freedom and Kurdish media, and called for Turkey to respect the freedom of the press and basic human rights.

FIDH: Detention, arrest, rights violations

Speaking for the FIDH, Nicolas Agostini said “Attorneys, academics, journalists and university students are being detained and arrested in Turkey. Serious human right violations take place in Turkey’s southeastern part”.

Agostini added that the human rights violations in Turkey must be closely followed.

HRW: UN must monitor closely

The HRW representative started his speech by stressing the crackdowns on the press in Turkey.

HRW urged the UN to closely follow the developments in Turkey.

Responding to the criticisms of the NGOS, Turkey’s representative for the UN said that “Turkey is a democratic country, no human right violations occur in Turkey and PKK (Kurdistan Workers’ Party) launches attacks against civilians”. (AS/TK)